thirtieth jump;

[ataraxites]

CHARACTERS: Any and all.
LOCATION: Gravity Couches and beyond.
WARNINGS: Maybe some swearing, or even some violence, and more than likely some implied (and possibly explicit) nakedness.
SUMMARY: Another month, another jump, another round of new faces.
NOTES: If this isn't your first jump, you might notice that something's different: You wake to a strange sense of silence. For once, it feels like you're truly alone. There's no sense of being watched, no lingering impressions other than those that come naturally. Instead it's just the rush of the blue fluid and the sounds of your fellow passengers as they're released from the pods.

All characters who entered Engineering during February's plot will continue to suffer more extreme side effects from the jump, same as last month.


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You wake up in darkness.

There's a breathing tube jammed down your trachea, and you're suspended in a tube of clear blue fluid. Upon registering your level of consciousness, the gravity couch drains the fluid surrounding you and retracts the breathing apparatus; the doors in front of you open, and you're deposited on the floor of a stark, sterile medical bay.

You are not alone.
There are others who have come before you, others who are awakening beside you. Some may be familiar to you, perhaps even friends. Others have much less amiable plans. Some are merely alien and inexplicable, but there are always those who might mean you harm.

After you catch your breath and your vision returns, you notice a number on the inside of your forearm. Maybe it's a familiar number. Maybe it means something. Maybe it's just a number. But the number—completely unique to you—is a tattoo, and it does not come off.

If you enter the room adjacent to the medbay, you will find a small locker with your number on it, surrounded by rows upon rows of identical lockers. Inside, you will find a few of your personal items, a communications device, and a ship's uniform in your exact size. The comms device is fully powered and connects directly to the ship's network; it's your only means of communication beyond physical conversation. Upon turning the device on, a neutral, automated voice will say, "Please take the blue lift to the passenger quarters." Any other attempts at communicating with the rest of the network are met only with static.

This is your welcome party.

Comments

[foundafamily]

[He smiles. He'd heard only a little bit about her family last time.]

Yeah? Wish she could.

[But he knows that even a one-way trip comes close to bankrupting families.]

It ain't a bad place. I mean, there's as much shit there as there is anywhere, but I know some really great people back home.

[And that's all that matters, right?]

[jondrette]

Perhaps she will find her way there. Away from the rest of my family.

[Her loyalty, in the end, was to her siblings. Gavroche. Azelma. Of course, how was she to know that eventually, Azelma and their father both, would indeed make it to America.]

That's good. I had no one like that back home. Save m'sieur Marius.

[foundafamily]

[He winces a little. The thought of not having family he loved or trusted is just plain sad to him.]

Marius? He a friend a' yours?

[jondrette]

Yes.

[No.]

[foundafamily]

What's he like?

[jondrette]

He is... Kind. Handsome, truly. Polite, [Not really, Eponine.] one of the most intelligent men I've ever met. He has a good heart. And kind eyes.

[foundafamily]

So just all-around great, huh?

[He laughs, but not unkindly. It's always nice to have friends that you think the world of--though he doesn't realize that they way she's talking could imply something more than friendship.]

[jondrette]

The best man I've ever known.

[foundafamily]

Glad you got to meet him.

[And hopefully he never has to suffer through this place. As painful as it is to be without friends, Firo imagines it hurts even more to watch them get swatted around on the ship.]

What's he do?

[jondrette]

He is a student. To be a lawyer.

[And he will be, if he survives the barricade.

Truth be told, she doesn't know much about him.]

[foundafamily]

A lawyer? Aren't they supposed to be all stuffy and stuck-up?

[Admittedly, Firo doesn't actually know any lawyers.]

[jondrette]

Sometimes, perhaps. But he was kind and gentle.

[foundafamily]

That's great.

[And he means it--he knows how rare those people can be.]

Did you guys hang out a lot?

[jondrette]

[Eponine blinks.] Hang out? Pardon, Firo, but I have never heard that term before.

[foundafamily]

It's like... you know, when you just do stuff with a friend. Talk and all that.

[Firo's probably one of the worst people to ask for definitions.]

[jondrette]

Oh! Quite often. [Eponine Thenardier, you liar!] We were neighbors, you see. Before I was arrested.

[foundafamily]

You were--?

[He'd figured she wasn't on the best terms with the police, but he didn't know she'd actually been arrested.]

Damn. That really sucks. I had to deal with some a' that crap before I got here, too.

[His stint in Alcatraz isn't something he tends to be open about, but he figures he can share in she is. It's only fair.]

[jondrette]

Yes. Javert was my arresting officer. [And Montparnasse had up and split, leaving her to take the fall. She'd spent six months in Madelonettes for prostitution, as that was all they could get her on at the time.]

It's a terrible thing, Firo. No one should have to go through it.

[foundafamily]

What an ass.

[Sure, as far as Firo knows Javert was just doing his job, but, in his mind, it's a horrible job.]

You can say that again. I hope they didn't keep you too long.

[He's still there at the point he was taken from home and if he ever finds his way back, he'll be there for who-knows-how-long.]

[jondrette]

Six months. They could not prosecute me.

[She does not smile, however.]

But it is over.

[foundafamily]

Shit, that long?

[Geez. Poor thing.]

Not that it stops anybody, but I don't think it's legal to hold people that long without chargin' 'em where I'm from!

[jondrette]

There are few laws that are upheld in my life.

When they are, they are unjust.

[foundafamily]

[He folds his arms over his chest.]

I guess some things are the same everywhere. Either the police're corrupt or they're spending way too much time chasin' people for stupid crap or jumpin' around like acrobats.

[...Okay, he'll admit that he's thinking of a very specific person for that last one. But the rest, he'd insist, are all true.]

[jondrette]

Like acrobats? Then the New York you live in is a very, very strange place. I have never seen such things myself.

[foundafamily]

[He laughs, shrugging. Considering all the things he's seen there, he'd have to agree with her.]

He was a very, very strange guy. And an asshole, too, but I guess that goes without sayin'.

...Actually, I got a friend who really was in the circus as an acrobat for a while. Strongest guy in the world, too.

[As far as Firo knows. Regardless, Claire is a much happier topic than that jerk from the FBI.]